


the surface

by hydrospanners



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Also Gross Bodily Functions, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, Mentions of alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 07:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14184237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrospanners/pseuds/hydrospanners
Summary: You never forget the first time you see the sky. A collection of drabbles about dwarves going to the surface.





	the surface

When Dagna first looked up at the sky, she thought of wings.

She would model the frame after the wings of a bird. There were so many of them on the surface, flying around easy as anything. She knew about birds, of course, but she’d never gotten to actually see one.

The frame would have to be smithed from metal. Wood was lighter, but less sturdy, and from the way the trees kept bending it looked like you’d need something solid if you wanted to stay up in that endless sky. Nothing more solid than metal. Well. Most metals. Some were actually–

She was getting distracted.

The weight of the metal would be a problem, but Dagna could think of a few enchantments that might solve it, if you folded them together in just the right way. And she didn’t even know that much about enchanting! If she had ideas for it now, just think of what ideas she’d have after a few weeks with the mages! And their books! And their tools!

Yes. Definitely metal for the frame. Dragon hide would be best for the wings themselves, but not even Dagna was optimistic enough to think she could get her hands on that. Not even the Circle could. No. She’d have to settle for some other sturdy leather. She’d heard you could enchant a hide just the same as you could fold a rune into metal, but she’d never had the chance to learn much about it. Never had the chance to learn much of anything that wasn’t smithing.

Now she had all the chances in the world. The great big wide open world.

Dagna smiled up at the sky. She couldn’t wait to get there.

 

#  #  #

 

“Blagh.” Oghren made a sound halfway between belch and a groan, scratching his ass with one hand and shielding his eyes with the other. “It’s sodding bright up here.”

Sodding bright and sodding green. And sodding open. Maybe it was all the ale, but he felt dizzy. Like he was lighter up here, like he might get caught in all that wind and be carried off like a sodding leaf.

Oghren threw up. Mostly stomach juice and ale, a few bits of the nugloaf he’d had… Whenever he’d had time to eat last. Yesterday afternoon? He couldn’t remember. Probably cause of the ale. Or maybe the thumps on the head. Hard to know anymore, and no real point in tryin’.

“Ugh,” the witch sneered. “Did we  _have_ to bring it with us?”

The Warden ignored her, gave Oghren a few friendly slaps on the back and said, “You’ll get used to it eventually.”

 

#  #  #

 

Gorim Saelac’s first impression of the surface was pain.

Pain from his broken leg. Pain from his broken life. Pain from his broken sodding heart.

He ought to have been looking up. Up and up and up forever, into that neverending blue sky. Into the golden sunlight and the fluffy white clouds. He ought to have been dizzy with it all, overwhelmed and a little awed. That’s how proper dwarves reacted to their first time on the surface.

But Gorim Saelac wasn’t a proper dwarf anymore, was he? Wasn’t a dwarf at all. He’d put on a brave face for Aeducan, but now that he was here…

Gorim kept his head down. He kept his eyes on the ground and didn’t think about what was above him. When his stomach turned, it was from the sight of the swelling, discolored mess of his knee. When he felt suddenly small and insignificant, when he started to worry he might just… float away. It wasn’t from looking at the endless sky. It was because he was a man with nothing. No family. No caste. No home.

Gorim Saelac wasn’t worried about being anchored to the ground. He was worried about being anchored to life.

 

# # #

 

Sigrun’s ankle jerked out from under her and she slammed, face first, into the ground. The surprisingly soft, damp ground. She didn’t have more than a half-second to think about that before the darkspawn behind her shrieked, jerking her leg.

Sigrun kicked the blighter in the face.

It shrieked again, releasing her ankle as other darkspawn seized their chance to scramble over it, swiping at her with their clawed, dessicated arms.

Sigrun scrambled back, stumbling to her feet on a ground that gave too much beneath her. This wasn’t stone it was–

She blinked up at the inky blue sky, at the lights bobbing through the mist overhead.

The surface.

Her pounding heart rose up in her throat. Or maybe that was bile. Either way, there wasn’t much time to think about it–all that open air and the sky and the dancing lights. The darkspawn were right behind her, a writhing mass of grey skin and black ichor, spilling from the mouth of Kal’Hirol like maggots from a corpse and screaming for her blood.

Sigrun planted her feet firmly on the too-soft ground and grinned. Let the bastards come, she thought. She would show them just what a dead woman could do.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published on Tumblr, requested by @paragonbroscaa as part of my Advent Calendar last year.


End file.
